Two Years at Automattic

It’s my second Automattiversary! Two years ago today, I slipped the surly bonds of law firm life and embarked on this new, uncharted adventure of being the in house lawyer for 120 (now almost 250..) of the most interesting, quirky, inspiring, intelligent, inquisitive, committed, hard working, band of friends I could hope to find.

On my first day of work, I surveyed my situation and thought that I didn’t have much in common with my new colleagues: my PHP and CSS skills were a little weak, to say the least, and I floundered to keep up with all of the strange new, non-phone based ways I had to communicate.

But we had a few very important things in common: We were all that kid who annoyed teachers and parents by asking “but why??” until they ran out of answers. We understand that there’s a big difference between taking your work seriously, and taking yourself seriously. Most of all, we all believe deeply in a creed that says things like “I will never pass up an opportunity to help out a colleague, and I’ll remember the days before I knew everything.” Once I figured this out, I felt totally at home. The rest I could learn.

Every day, for two years, you’ve all inspired me to be better in every way. To work harder, communicate better, to never accept “it’s always been done that way” as an excuse. To do everything I do with soul and panache. It’s a privilege to come to work with you every day, and to call myself an Automattician.

I tell everyone who will listen that I have the best legal job in America, and that’s no exaggeration. It hasn’t always been easy, but it’s always been fun. So fun, in fact, that my wife will often walk by my office during the work day to the sight of me giggling at my computer. “Stop goofing off and get back to work,” she’ll say….”But I am working!” I respond…”my co-workers are just so funny…”